Ciambella, Fabio. "Dancing With/For One's Own: A Pragmatic Analysis of Self-Celebration in Kemp's Nine Days Wonder."

Ciambella, Fabio. "Dancing With/For One's Own: A Pragmatic Analysis of Self-Celebration in Kemp's Nine Days Wonder." Journal of the Northern Renaissance 16 (2025).

URL: https://jnr2.hcommons.org/issues/16-dance-2025/ (Open Access)


From the editorial by Lynsey McCulloch and Emily Winerock:
Fabio Ciambella explores the controversial figure of English actor and dancer Will Kemp. As an actor, Kemp is best known as one of the original shareholders, or ‘sharers’, in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, alongside the company’s resident playwright, William Shakespeare. But, as a dancer, Kemp provides us with valuable insight into early English dance, both the staged jigs that took place in London’s playhouses and the folk traditions Kemp harnessed in his infamous morris dance from London to Norwich in 1600. While Kemp’s theatrical persona was subject to contemporary critique—Ciambella notes the invective against clowns in the Q1 edition of Hamlet—his dancing abilities were apparently not in doubt, prompting John Marston in his 1599 The Scourge of Villainy to announce that ‘the orbes celestiall / Will daunce Kemps Iigge’. And, as Ciambella ably demonstrates, much of Kemp’s self-image and self-celebration are predicated on feats of dancing prowess. His Nine Days Wonder—Kemp’s written account of his endurance morris dance from London to Norwich—records numerous examples of athletic leaps and energetic capers. It presents dance as a competitive sport; Kemp, the professional dancer, is able to outperform and outlast the members of the public who join his morris along the way. Ciambella’s pragmastylistic reading of Kemp’s text, providing a linguistic analysis in the context of Kemp’s social interactions, offers compelling evidence of Kemp’s stylistic self-aggrandisement, an attempt to redeem his reputation following his resignation from the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1599.